"Reflections for a Confirmation Class -
The Holy Spirit as Christ Squared"
By Hugh O'Donnell
What do you imagine,
remember or feel when you see a Communion
host? The round, thin wafer of bread
symbolizes many things to many people.
For me, the Circular white slice
of ground wheat Causes deep rooted awe
and far reaching wonder.
As
a Child growing up in a large Roman Catholic family, the Eucharist was Central to my religious education. I Can vividly recall a photo from our family
album showing the family gathered around a young boy of seven dressed
immaculately in a white suit. How proud
and Complete I
felt that Spring day.
Recently,
I was asked to describe what images or thoughts Come to mind after receiving Communion.
Upon reflection, the vision of a large, gold monstrance Containing a Circular white host Came
to mind. I remembered the Holy Thursday
evenings of my youth when my father and brothers would go to our local Church for an hour of prayer. We would kneel before this elaborately forged
vessel shaped in the form of a sunburst called a monstrance. The vessel Contained a 2- to 3-inch diameter Consecrated host mounted in a Circular glass Case
placed at the Center. Our vigil prayer in front of the monstrance Continued into the late hours of Holy Thursday
night and Centered on the remembrance of
Jesus' night in the
Today
Communion brings back similar feelings
of reverence and specialness. I still feel special after receiving the
Eucharist on Sundays with my Children. The minutes after Choosing
Communion are, without a doubt, my most sacred moments. Similarly, whenever I see a picture of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemani
on the night before He died, my mind drifts back to the evenings of Closeness spent with my father. The memories give me a Connectedness to my past and my now deceased Dad.
Another
sacred memory about Communion Comes from
a trip I once made to Paris, France as a pilot for USX Corporation.
I was strangely drawn to visit the Basilica of the Sacre
Coeur (Sacred Heart) which sets high on
a hill north of Paris like a huge white monstrance. I remember seeing the sparkling white Church towers from my hotel window while feeling
a strong desire to visit the Church. When I entered the Basilica, I felt the
sacredness. At first, I noticed only a
few people scattered throughout the pews kneeling in prayer. The time was early evening on a weekday. Then I saw a large, gold monstrance elevated
on a stand high above the main altar. I
was struck with awe and reverence at being in this spectacular Church, under the Circumstances
of a setting sun, in the presence of a huge monstrance Containing the Eucharist.
The
experience in France Couldn't
help but make me think of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a native
Frenchman and favorite author of mine.
I thought of how he might have also prayed in the Basilica and how the Church's splendor might have sparked him to write
his awesome book, The Divine Milieu. Chardin has
profoundly influenced my understanding of Communion
and knowledge of who Christ is. Even
though Chardin
is often Criticized
for having too mystical an idea of who Christ
is, his image of Christ is one that is
rooted in science and, for me, causes awe and wonder. On that day in the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur, Chardin's idea or
wisdom of Christ burst across me as
brightly as the rays of a setting sun as I knelt before the sparkling
monstrance. My understanding of Communion has never been the same.
There
was a time in my life, after the age of seven, that I
did not feel the same Connectedness to Christ I now feel. I remember a time when I felt foolish seeing
grown men praying in front of metal monstrances. I remember thinking how ridiculous the notion
was of bread being Christ's actual Body
and Blood. For many years my
understanding of Communion was in deep Crisis and Chaos.
Today my wisdom of Communion
in no longer in Crisis. The Chaos
has been transformed into a new understanding of Creation. Thanks to a Jesuit priest named Chardin and others
like him, Communion has new
meaning. Now, in the same way that Chardin's
understanding was enveloped in his scientific work, my wisdom of Christ is Conscious
and Charged in science.
For
me, the most vivid Concept Connecting Christ
and science Comes in an understanding of
Einstein's famous equation, E=mC2. Consider
the implications this fantastic equation describing how matter (m) Can be Converted
to energy (E) when acted on or factored
by light speed (C) squared.
Just
what is C2 in this equation? What is C
Cross C?
Is it the velocity of light squared or is it a deeper understanding of Christ as the Light of the World squared? Can
the Concept of Communion, the Conversion
of bread into spirit, be linked with the Concept
of Converting matter into energy? Can the
Concept of Concrete
fact that is expressed in this equation be linked to the more abstract Concept of transubstantiation where spirit is Condensed and then bread Consecrated
into Christ's Body and Blood -- or the Converse where man after eating the bread is
transformed into the Mystical Body of Christ? Can
this knowledge of C2 be the C Cross C Converting
the Heart, or Coeur, of man into the
energy of light, love and life?
What
does my awe and reverence of Communion
have to do with my infatuation with the letter "C"? Why does my Consciousness
Concern itself with words that begin in "C" such as Communion and Confirmation. What is the mathematical sum of Closeness and Community
+ Connectedness
and Chardin + CCD and Church + Core and Crisis
+ Circular
and Completeness + Concern
and Concentration + Compassion
and Compression + Conversion
and Concentric + Chaos and
Creation +
Character and Christology?
Why
does the expression "C2" mean
either the product of (C X C) or the mathematical
sum of (C + C + C + C ...) for C number
of additions? Why does Cross (X)
mean multiplication? Or why is Cross
(+) the symbol of addition? Why did Christ
give up or give out his Spirit on a Cross? Why does the Einstein Conversion factor, C2,
for Changing
matter into energy equal a quantity that is almost infinite in size and speed
and yet still Considered a finite
reality in time. Can all these "C's" represent an
understanding of time as Change that is
both infinite Chance and finite Choice?
Why
have international scientists Chosen the
letter "C" to be the universal
symbol of light? Why have biblical
writers, starting with Genesis, Conceptualized
both God and Christ as light? Could
it be that the Holy Spirit is this light squared?
Why
has science, with its international Community
of disciples, formed the first truly Collective
body that is universal in Character,
united in its acceptance of open inquiry and devoid in its devotion to
dictatorial dogma?
Scientific
discovery has progressed Continuously by
Cooperation of global scientists amidst
even the atom bombs of World War II which epitomized the pinnacle proof of
Einstein's E=mC2 equation.
However now for me, the sunburst or bomb burst that warms our world
daily is fueled by a reverent understanding of this equation ... a knowledge
that states the scientific fact that in our Sun, individual hydrogen atoms give
themselves up or out to each other daily forming more Complex helium atoms in the process of releasing
light. In the same way, people give
themselves to each other in unselfish ways daily forming more Complex and Connected
Christian Communities releasing love and life. For me, Einstein's equation produces a wisdom
of how the infinitesimal loss of mass that occurs as a result of four hydrogen
atoms combining together to make one helium atom produces an almost infinite
amount energy in the form of heat and light -- the same light which heats the
blood flowing in my body.
What
a remarkable understanding of the bridge between the infinitesimal world of the
inner atom and the infinite world of outer space -- a bridge described as the
bread of life -- a bridge that is both deep rooted and far reaching.
Is
it any wonder that I now marvel at science and its fields of physic, psychology
and biology. Consider physics with its CXC Concept
of the Convoluted Continuum.
Consider psychology with its Consideration of Collective
Consciousness. Consider
biology with its Connection in evolution
to Chardin's Convergent Cosmogenesis. Is it any wonder that my prayers Center on Communion
and the Circular "Son" burst
around the host.
Is
it any wonder that I Conceive
the abstract Concept of the Holy Spirit
to be Christ "squared" Concentrating his presence throughout the Cosmos Converting
matter amid time and space. Is it any
wonder that I teach my Class that Confirmation is a Chance
in time to Change our Choice -- a Chance
to Choose Christ. Truly this is Christ
in a Cosmic
sense and Cause for a Child's imagination dressed all in white.
July 15,1994